OPEC output drops to lowest level since March 2015: S&P

OPEC oil output has dropped to the lowest level in February 2019 since March 2015, Trend reports citing S&P Global Platts.

'Saudi Arabia's continued output discipline and Venezuela's struggles under US sanctions led OPEC's crude oil production in February modestly lower to 30.80 million b/d,' an S&P Global Platts survey of industry officials, analysts and shipping data found. ' The figure is a 60,000 b/d drop from January and is OPEC's lowest output level since March 2015, when Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Congo had yet to join the organization but Qatar was still a member.'

S&P believes that despite the fall, OPEC still has more cutting to do to fully comply with its supply accord that went into force in January.

'The 11 members with quotas under the deal achieved 79 percent of their committed cuts in February, and remain 170,000 b/d above their collective ceiling. This is a slight improvement on January's 76 percent, with Nigeria and Iraq producing far in excess of their cap,' according to Platts calculations.

OPEC and non-OPEC producers reached an agreement in December 2016 to curtail oil output jointly and ease a global glut after more than two years of low prices. OPEC agreed to slash the output by 1.2 million barrels per day from January 1.

Non-OPEC oil producers such as Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, Sudan, and South Sudan agreed to reduce output by 558,000 barrels per day starting from January 1, 2017.

OPEC and its partners decided to extend its production cuts till the end of 2018 in Vienna on November 30, as the oil cartel and its allies step up their attempt to end a three-year supply glut that has savaged crude prices and the global energy industry.

The 5th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting was held in Vienna, Austria, on December 7, 2018.

The meeting participants decided to adjust the overall production by 1.2 million barrels per day, effective as of January 2019 for an initial period of six months. The contributions from OPEC and the voluntary contributions from non-OPEC participating countries of the 'Declaration of Cooperation' will correspond to 0.8 million barrels per day (2.5 percent), and 0.4 million barrels per day (2 percent), respectively.